WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - WHY DO I WRITE ?

Seen in Riga (Latvia)



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I have got an email from Kate at Five Minute Friday, asking me why I write or want to write.

The reason is simple, since I learned to read and write, I have always loved writing and honestly the best notes at school was for my writings. My friends too enjoyed my letters, at that time there was no internet of course but  I wrote in my diary. I also invented little stories, which nobody read besides me.

When I discovered Blogs in 2006, I thought that's it ! Now I can write to my hearts content. But the big question was, in what language should I write ? My mothertongue being German I thought then I will only have German bloggers and in 2006 there were almost none. It was not very well known. The same was for French, I could have written in French too, but France was even more behind, there were only a few Canadians who had a blog in French. There were no translation facilities on the blogs neither, they were very simple.

I decided to try in English, and to my big surprise it worked, not so in the beginning because I had a big lack of vocabulary and when I read the posts today I have to laugh sometimes ! But I started 
a blog ! I wrote and was surprised that I didn't get comments. I don't even remember where it was, but then I discovered Blogger and it started !  First it was one blog, where I mostly told stories about my cats. But soon it became too small for all memes and I split it into two, this one and  My Cats and funny stories there are so many cat lovers around I had to make a blog apart.

Now I couldn't imagine my life without blogging. It has become my hobby ! Over the years I have learned so much and been in contact with people from all over the world.

I write stories about my childhood, my life, my adventures, my travels .... Writing lets me forget all worries, I am in another world. I only regret one thing, that Websides, Blogs and Internet in general didn't exist when I was young. I was already 63 when I started but I also learned that it is never too late to learn new things and go with the future !



2006, even on holidays !

NORTHERN COUNTRY TOUR - COPENHAGEN

After Amsterdam we had a quite long drive to Copenhagen, with real fantastic views, before  we crossed Europe's longest bridge The Oresund Bridge which is an approximately 16 km long road and rail link between Sweden and Denmark.

When we arrived in the Copenhagen, we made a tour of the city, and our tour leader showed us highlights of the city, including the parliament house, Tivoli, town hall, Rosenborg, and the little mermaid statue. I took a lot of photos, but unfortunately I don't always remember what building or place it was. At least it gives an overlook of the city and for me personally good memories of my short visit in Copenhagen, one of the largest cities in northern Europe.






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WEEKEND SEPTEMBER 15

Saturday I wanted to bring over a cat tower to Nicole's but she wasn't there, so I took an appointment in the nearby garage for my yearly car inspection. And as just opposite was a sports shop I bought a new swimsuit for my aqua gym classes. The old one had become bigger and bigger and was not fitting my body anymore but hanging around in folds ! Although I didn't try it on it fitted perfectly once I tried it at home.

On Sunday was a Festival in the ruins of the Abbey of Villers la Ville called "Ombres et lumières du Moyen Age" (shadows and lights of the middle age)



I wanted to take some pictures of the ruins and the medieval village they had built in. It really looked beautiful.



We met a lot of people directly out of the middle age. A bit scary, but we are used to worse !



The girl who walked the geese was really brave, a German shepherd dog helped her.



I had been often in these Abbey, in all seasons, because it is just so beautiful and seems always to be different.



So much life and laughter and fun in these ruins, seemed almost unreal. And all people were in such a good mood, 



we were laughing and joking together, although we had never seen each other. There was this skinny metal horse and the lady who ate a deliciously smelling onion soup !



This man showed me proudly his helmets, a little boy tried one on and had difficulties to take it off !



some places remained untouched, like here the garden with different herbs and wild flowers, good for the bees.

After two hours of walking around, we left and had a drink in the opposite located Brasserie. The sun was shining and it was warm, what a beautiful day !

A VINTAGE MODEL

I had never thought that at my young age of 75 I was asked to be a model for the tourist brochure of the Belgian province Brabant-Wallon. But it happened and I had an appointment with the fotographer
and the director (a young woman) at the La Hulpe castle.

Punctually at 10 am I was there and the other models arrived too. I thought that 10 am is not such a good choice as we look better in the afternoon, and not when we are just climbing out of the bed.



We had to walk around and pretend that we were tourists. We also had to visit the museum and show interest in the paintings, sculptures, and other creations of an Belgian artist named Folon. I was (nearly) ashamed not to know him ! But his permanent exhibition was quite interesting. We also admired his workshop.












These were all the places were the photo shooting took place



Some of his creations. A fisherman with a high hat, holding fishes which spat water, was one sculpture and the other showed the usual Belgian climate "Rain" There was also a mirror room, where I could admire myself from all sides !



I wouldn't know where to put this creation in my house, it was a man climbing up a ladder and then when the door opened did some gymnastic.



And this sculpture sat in real sand of the Belgian sea and was looking at a painting of the sea. I think I would need a bigger house for all that.

It was fun we all got very well together and after the shooting spent some time on the terrace of the restaurant there and we were offered a drink from the Tourist Federation !!

What a nice day, because it lasted until 2 pm and after that from all this walking around and posing I felt a bit exhausted. Yes, at 20 it was easier !!


also


Linking to Black and white weekend

and Weekend Reflections

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

Instead of playing "Sunday" on Monday and doing nothing I had a lot of computer work ! I had continued my travel posts this time on Hamburg in Germany. It's not so easy to remember and put the photos in place ! That took me the whole morning !



From my son's weekend visit I had a whole Camembert cheese left and invented a plate. A lay of  roasted potatoes, slices of eggplants, red and yellow pepper and zucchini. The Camembert came on the top and the whole thing in the micro wave. Quickly done and Mr. G. ate like a horse !

It was my turn to receive my Scrabble friends, we were only 4 but that was nice, one was on holidays and the other occupied with her gardener, I mean with garden work of course.



Mireille who is half blind won again !! And I lost (as usual)

I had got an email from my travel agency about our "girl's" holidays end November and went over to Nicole.



Her little cat cross eyed at me with her huge blue eyes, what a cutie she is. We discussed our holidays I had thought there was something wrong, but it wasn't !

Slowly we prepare our yearly exhibition of our painting class. I am in charge of taking photos of the pictures, put them together and create a poster !



These 4 of mine, this year I have only painted a few cats, I started to paint abstract, with the help of a dishwasher brush and a sponge.



After painting class we were hungry and went together for lunch. I had fish in a special sauce was delicious.

Each time I come home there is cat Arthur showing up from nowhere



and rolls around to show me how happy he is that I am back ! What a welcome !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Babushkas seen in a souvenir shop in St. Petersburg



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It took me nearly two days to put these 3 pictures on my blog ! Blogger apparently has a bug with downloading photos, and I needed the htlm code ! Finally I helped myself with Photobucket where I still had a very old account and which gave me the codes.

I had tried using Firefox, and Google Chrome, I tried with Mr. G.'s computer, I restarted the computer, I tried everything.

Before I died of a heart attack I finally gave up, but only for the afternoon because I had other things to do. And then by raking my brain Photobucket came into my mind and it worked !

Hopefully Blogger will repair this bug very quick preferably yesterday because it is very annoying when you need your photos on your blog !

Has anybody the same problem ?